Last week when I read that a group of filmmakers including Jason Reitman, Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, and several others just purchased the historic Village theater in Westwood Village, I was conflicted. On one hand I’m happy. I grew up about a mile away from Westwood Village and I’ve seen a lot of movies at that theater. I can’t wait to see what they do to remodel and improve the theater. On the other hand I’m somewhat concerned. Do they know what they’re getting into? There have been several stories about how movie theaters are losing money and closing (even before the pandemic). Especially single screen movie theaters or small movie theater chains. I just read that a movie theater in Highland Park, Ca (about 20 miles northeast from Westwood Village) is closing after playing for nearly 100 years.
I’m guessing they’re following in the footsteps of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino who currently owns two movie theaters around Hollywood, the New Beverly Cinema in West Hollywood and the Vista Theater in Los Feliz. However, the theater the filmmakers just bought is much bigger. If you combine both of Tarantino’s theaters it comes out to approx. 650 seats (according to the internet, one theater is about 250 seats and the other is about 400 seats). That is less than half of the capacity of the approx. 1400 seat Village Theater. If the Village theater sold only 650 seats for a screening, most people would think it’s not doing well. In fact, I’m writing this on Friday Mar 1, the opening day of “Dune Part 2”. Right now, the Vista Theater – which is showing the movie in 70mm film – is completely sold out but the Village Theater is only approx. one third full. However, one third of that theater is MORE than 400 seats. (Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema usually doesn’t show new movies. Tonight, the theater is showing “The Holdovers”).
Another benefit for the theaters that Tarantino owns is that their competition is somewhat easier since the most popular movie theater in the Hollywood area – the Cinerama Dome and Arclight Hollywood – aren’t open right now (they’re currently predicted to reopen in 2025). On the other hand, the AMC Century City multiplex – which is just 2 miles away and some people say is the main reason people stopped going to Westwood Village – is still open and is playing the same movies that are currently playing at the Village theater. Tonight at the AMC Century City, all the screens showing “Dune Part 2” – including IMAX and Dolby Vision – are almost sold out (not sure what the total seat count for all the screens showing the movie is).
According to what I’ve read, filmmaker Jason Reitman – who initially had the idea to buy the movie theater – also wants to get people to come back to Westwood Village. However, I grew up in the area and I’ve seen how it’s changed over the years. When I was young, Westwood Village was the popular place to hang out even if you didn’t go to UCLA. It had several movie theaters, popular stores (including record stores), a video game arcade (a few feet away from the movie theater), and restaurants. Even filmmaker Kevin Smith opened a comic bookstore in Westwood Village for a little while. These days, the video arcade is gone, some of the stores are empty and “available to lease” and others are chain stores like Target, 7-Eleven, or Walgreens. Some of the restaurants are also chains like Starbucks, Taco Bell, and California Pizza Kitchen.
There used to be 7 movie theaters in Westwood Village, 10 theaters if you include movie theaters close to the area (south of Wilshire Blvd). I’ve been to every theater quite a few times and knew them all well:
“Village” – now owned by the group of filmmakers and still open.
“Bruin” (directly across the street from the Village to the east) – still open.
“Regent” (half a block south from the Village) – still open and now called the “Landmark Westwood”
“Westwood” (1 block west and half a block south from the Village) – now the building is a Whole Foods.
“National” (1 block west and 2 blocks south from the Village) – torn down and replaced.
“Plaza” (2 blocks east and half a block south from the Village) – torn down and replaced.
“Cineplex Westwood” (2 blocks south and about half a block east from the Village) – The marquee is still there but it’s not a movie theater anymore. I think a company may be using the building.
(in the Westwood Village area)
“Avco Cinema Center” (south side of Wilshire about 2 blocks east of Westwood Blvd) – still open and now an “Ipic” theater that has “dinner and a movie”.
“Crest” (about half a block south of Wilshire on Westwood Blvd) – Now owned by UCLA and renamed the “Nimoy” for LIVE performances.
“UA Westwood” (1 block south of Wilshire on Westwood Blvd) – Now the building is a CVS.
Of the 10 theaters there’s only 4 still open. If they want to bring more people back to Westwood Village (not just come and see a movie), they will probably need to have something really special at the theater or the group should consider investing in the area more. How about buying the Bruin movie theater that’s right across the street (it’s currently run by same circuit, but I’m not sure if it’s owned by the same company) or buying some of the stores that are literally a few feet away from the entrance to the movie theater.
Of course, the new owners of the Village Theater will probably show more than just first run movies. I’m sure they’re planning on doing a lot of film festivals or special screenings. However, recent film festivals have had some trouble bringing moviegoers back to movie theaters. Especially the people who are hesitant to be in a crowd of people since there are still people who have COVID. Even the American Cinematheque had to sell the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood to Netflix. I think any film festival or special screening will need to be popular to even fill half of the seats in the Village Theater.
However, since the filmmakers now own the theater, they may be able to show very special screenings of their movies. Exclusive screenings of movies they made that can’t be seen anywhere else such as movies that have never been released before (like “Batgirl’ or “Coyote vs. Acme”, two completed movies that Warner Bros has recently shelved), movies that do not have a standard theatrical distribution deal, or “director’s cut” versions of their movies. They might even be able to arrange to show their next movie at the theater exclusively for one or two weeks before it starts playing at other movie theaters. Screenings like that should bring people a lot of people to that movie theater. If you want to see Steven Spielberg’s next movie, it’s ONLY playing at the Village Theater in Westwood Village. However, they need to be careful not to upset other movie theaters in the area. If they show a movie exclusively at the theater for one or two weeks, maybe AMC Theaters will refuse to show the movie after that (like they don’t show movies if they’re also available on Netflix). The filmmakers only own 1 movie theater (so far). If they upset the biggest movie theater chain in the world, they’ll need to buy a lot more theaters so their movies will play.
I’m not saying that I think their investment will fail. In fact, I hope it succeeds. I hope that I can go to a great looking remodeled movie theater very soon. I’ll be really disappointed if the theater ends up closing or is up for sale again in a year or two. However, as I said before, I’m concerned that the filmmakers don’t know how difficult it will be to own a movie theater.
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